5 Times The Fiji Pro Really Mattered

The Corona Fiji Pro has a long, if checkered, history on the WSL Championship Tour. It initially ran from 1999 to 2008, before being resurrected in 2012. Then there was a six-year stint, with the last competition held in 2017. This week it returns as the final CT event and the curtain-raiser to the WSL Finals. In 2025, it will host the Finals, further cementing Cloudbreak’s place as a central pillar in pro surfing. Fiji matters to surfing. And here are five times when it mattered more than most.

2012: A Shift In The Way See Big Wave Surfing

Perhaps ironically it was the ASP’s decision not to run an event back in 2012 that caused this large ripple in the pro surf continuum. An already large and building swell was forecast to go XL. Head judge Richie Porta gave the green light, while contest director Matt Wilson and a representative of the surfers called for a postponement. The competition was called off for the day, and a slew of the world’s best big wave riders, plus a handful of CT surfers paddled out instead. The freesurfing session was webcast live, and the action and interest were groundbreaking. "It actually brings up a more interesting question the backing a big-wave world tour or events in a speciality way as they happen,” said Kelly Slater, forecasting the future. “These guys and these swells need a good platform that supports what they're already doing and someone to document the whole lifestyle and help these guys out more.”

2013 Kelly Slater’s Last Masterclass

This was the last, true event masterclass put on by Kelly Slater at a wave and a place he calls his second home. In an event that featured huge, flawless, Cloudbreak, the spring chickenish 41-year-old set the bar high with a perfect 20-point two-wave heat total in Round 4. In the Final against Mick Fanning, a near-perfect 19.80, sealed his fourth Fiji event win, and third in succession for the 11-time World Champ. Kelly has won just two CT events since (Tahiti in 2016, and Pipeline in 2022), and looking back it was this performance that might have been the last, dominant surfing display by the GOAT.

2015 Owen Wright Makes History

Owen Wright had signaled his intent in Round 5, posting a perfect 20-point total, the then-seventh in sports' history. With his confidence building in line with the swell, he’d pretty much wrapped up the Final with five minutes to go. But this Fiji benchmark performance wasn't done. He stroked into a huge set, opened with a massive turn, and finished with a trademark big barrel and was rewarded with a Perfect 10. He just had enough time to motor back out, score another roll-in, and navigate a critical tube ride to log another 10. In doing so he become the first surfer to score two perfect heats in an event. No one has done it since.

2016: Defay and Moore Raise The Bar

In 2013, women’s competitive surfing had returned to Cloudbreak, Fiji. No other wave on the roster had the power or consequences, and none tested the women’s barrel riding abilities, like the Fijian reef break. Sally Fitzgibbons' performance in 2015 was noteworthy, defending her title and winning the event with a head bandage having busted an eardrum earlier in the event. However, it was in 2016 that there was a dramatic shift in performance levels. Led by finalists Johanne Defay and Carissa Moore, ably supported by wildcard Bethany Hamilton and Laura Enever. Enever, in proto-big-wave surfer mode, scored the first perfect 10 of the event. Moore however dominated the heats logging an incredible sequence of ever-improving heat totals of 15.90, 18.46, 19.03 and 19.04. However, it was Johanne Defay who prevailed in the Final, in the first event where the women didn’t just deal with Cloudbreak, but dominated it.

2016: Kelly vs Gabe Changing Of The Guard

Kelly Slater’s returns may have diminished since his performance in 2013 here, but in 2016 no surfer had won more events in Fiji than Kelly. Surfing as a wildcard, his singular relationship with the wave still had him as one of the favorites. Yet it was Gabriel Medina who had done more than most to put a dent in the armor. The Brazilian had won here in 2014, on the way to his first World Title, and their Semifinal seemed pivotal. Medina was flawless in his dismantling of the Kelly in their match-up, and would again prove too strong for Matt Wilkinson in the Final. Returning to Fiji in 2024, he may need to repeat that result to gain a spot in the WSL Finals. Of the field, only Kelly and Gabe have won in Fiji before (let alone the six they have shared). What chances of another pivotal match-up in 2024?

Related: Why Fiji’s the Perfect Place for Kelly Slater to Ride Off into the Sunset

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Related: Women's Final Five Dreams Comes Down to the Magic of Cloudbreak at Fiji Pro